How I Applied Norway for Masters Program and Got Visa?

Norway is one of the best places for study abroad. Without a doubt, numberless students around the globe come to study in Norway. The best thing about Norway is the public Universities offer international students to come and study for free. However, without a genuine information, you’ll go no near the application process.

Jumping to the fact, if you want to apply for masters degree course, I highly recommend you to apply by yourself. And this article will help you to process from the very beginning till the time of VISA.

Needless to say, running after consultancies will only cost you tons and tons of money. You can use that money for the flight cost and shopping stuff.

It’s a lengthy process, but if you follow my instruction and guide properly, it will not be hard for you.

Why is this article legitimate? I applied all by myself and right now I’m here in Oslo writing this. 😀 So can you.

Before we begin, let us procure some significant information or FAQregarding Norway Study.

TOEFL/IELTS is mandatory. Visit the University’s official site for the minimum English Proficiency requirement. In most cases, the University accepts a minimum IELTS score of 6.0 and TOEFL IBT score of 80 for a masters degree. But still, you have to make sure.

Almost all the courses are taught in English in Public Universities.

Not all courses are free and there are some private Universities who charge you for tuition fee. Do some research before applying.

4 Years Bachelors degree and total 16 years of schooling is a must.

The application generally opens from October 1st till the end of December. This means in that period of time, you have to register your application from the online portal.

There is no limit to how many applications you want to submit to the University. As long as you find your relevant course of study, you can apply to multiple Universities. In fact, you have a better chance of getting offer letter if you apply to more Universities.

You can generally apply for 2 different courses in a single University.

You don’t need to send/submit any documents directly to the University via FedEx or DHL. You just need to submit your documents to the VFSGlobal and they will do the rest.

No property valuation or income proof is required. However, you must transfer the certain amount (approx 13 lakh+) directly to the Norwegian Bank after your receive the offer letter. How, When, and Where to transfer will be informed by the University after you get an acceptance letter.

The money you deposited will be returned to your personal bank account after your Norwegian ID is registered. It will take around 6-8 weeks after your arrival in Norway.

You need to pay fooding and housing by yourself. University will help you to get housing as well.

How To Apply Norway For Masters Study

Step 1: Choose your Course and Select Universities wisely

This is the foremost prior step. Without determining your relevant course of study, it is absurd to just go for any further application process. Decide first, your intended course of study and then only apply. Remember, the application review team are very strict in these matters. If they think you applied for the wrong course, they will instantly decline your application.

You can go to https://www.studyinnorway.noto search your course. Simply select your level from the drop-down menu and choose the subject area. You’ll see the list of courses appearing on the page.

In many cases, Universities simply would simply reject your application if the course you’re applying for is irrelevant to the course you studied in Bachelor’s degree. That’s why it is essential to choose your course wisely. For lists of universities, follow this link.

Step 2: Go to the Online Application Portal and Upload Documents

Now you’ve chosen your intened course of study and selected University as well. It’s time to go to the online portal and submit your application.

Note: The application process generally starts in October and ends in December depending upon the Universities’ policy. Visit the official website of particular University for more details.

Visit the site and choose an institution from the drop-down menu shown in the screenshot above. You’ll get the acceptance letter if the University believes you are the eligible student for that University.

You have now reached the application form. Register as an applicant, and you will receive your password by e-mail.

Log on to Søknadsweb with your e-mail address and password, and fill in the application details.

As the very final step of the application process, you’ll be asked to submit the required documentation by uploading these.

Please note that there is no “submit” button.

You can change your application as many times as you like until the deadline.

Some important documents you need to submit/upload are:

Valid Passport or National ID card showing your nationality: Upload clear and both sides of scanned copy of passport.

Proof of English Language Proficiency: Most universities accept IELTS score of 6.0 and demand TOEFL score 80.
Now, here’s another deal. If you’ve taken IELTS, you can simply upload your official scanned copy of IELTS score for the application. However, if you’ve taken TOEFL test, you need to submit the official score to the university via ETSwhich costs you $20 extra just to send your official TOEFL score to the single university. The University will provide you the unique institution code for score submission.If you’re applying for more universities, you need to pay extra $20 depending upon the number of universities you’re applying. I had done TOEFL and was almost broke while sending my score to different universities.

School Leaving Certificate (10 Years completed course).

+2 or High School Diploma and Transcript of records.

Bachelor’s Degree Diploma and Transcript of records (4 years completed degree with grade explanation): You need to upload both Transcriptand Original Certificate offered by your respective University.
My application was almost deferred due to failing to upload the Original Certificate offered by Tribhuwan University. FYI, Bachelor’s transcript and Original certificate are different. The original certificate is the certificate provided by your university during the convocation and Transcript is your final mark sheet report card.

Recommendation/Reference Letter from College Head: Visit your college. Just humbly tell them you are going for an abroad study and you need the recommendation letter for the application.
They will happily write the recommendation letters for you. And yes, make it 3 different letters from 3 different persons. One from Principal and other two from your college lecturer/professor is ok.

Proof of Financial Ability: Visit the university official page for this information. You need to provide your bank statement/certificate for the proof that you can afford to live there. Don’t worry this has nothing to do with your study cost. But you need to submit this proof.Here, you don’t have to send your money to Norway. Not yet. Just open your bank account and deposit certain amount referred by your University. Hold it for a day or two, then visit your Bank and ask them to provide Bank Statement and Bank Certificate for you.

Resume/ Curriculum Vitae: Comment your email address and request for a CV sample. I will personally email them to you.

Statement of Purpose: Write in your own words what’s your intended course of study. Why this course? What motivated you to study this particular course in this particular university. Do not forget to mention your future plans after the completion of the study.

That’s all. These are the only documents you need to upload and submit in your application portal. Some universities have an optional field to upload extra documents like work experience certificates. If you have, you can upload them. Otherwise, just leave it as it is. It’s not mandatory.

Step 3: Wait for the Acceptance Letter

Keep in mind that the application process of Norway is lengthy. It takes around 2-3 months to get a reply. Either positive or negative. If you are thinking to quit your job already, do it after you get a positive response from the University. Normally, they will send you a copy of Acceptance Letter via email in early March. Luckily, I got mine in mid-February. It solely depends on the University to University.

Do not instantly accept the offer in panic. Wait for other universities’ replies as well. You’ll have enough time to pick the right course and University for you. Have some patience. Some Universities have a deadline to take-it-or-leave-it option. Either way, it’s your call.

Step 4: What after Positive Reply?

If you have been offered education permit by the University, Congratulations to you !! So what to do next? Prepare the following documents now. The consultancy charges you Rs (70,000- 80,000) just by telling you to do these things. No kidding !! And I will guide you for free.

You can quit your job now they won’t offer you a leave every week.

Start preparing the following documents. These are the documents you need during the VISA processing at VFS global.

Verify your educational documents from respective Institutions. You’ll need to verify and attest SLC, +2 and Bachelors degree certificates with your copies. Go to Sano Thimi for SLC & +2 certificate verification and go to your respective University Office for bachelors degree verification. They will take some charges for that.

Note: You don’t need to verify your migration and provisional certificates. University has absolutely no use of them. For SLC and +2, you will need to attest/verify transcript and original certificate (मूल पत्र) and for a fbachelors degree, you’ll need a transcript and original certificate (not provisional certificate, but the original one).

Take your attested documents to Ministry of Education (located in Kaiser Library), 20 minutes walk from Jamal. Just ask them to attest your document and they will punch a stamp on your documents. Don’t worry it’s free.After that, you will need to take all your attested documents to the Ministry Of Foreign Affairs, 20 minutes walk from Sundhara near Teku, for the further verification. For each page, they will charge you Rs 200 for the attest. .During verification of your documents, each page should be stamped with the logo of Ministry Of Foreign Affairs. If your documents have both sides, then you need to make print on both sides of the page.

Translate the copy of your citizenship from the nearby Notary office. Any notary office near to you will do that. They’ll charge you Rs 200 for that too.

Prepare No Objection Letter (NOC) from Ministry of Education (Opens only till 12.00 pm). You will need this to send your deposit directly from your Bank account to the University’s account. While preparing No Objection Letter, make sure you have the following documents with you. Otherwise, you will return empty handed.

Notarized Photocopy of your Citizenship. It’s the verification photocopy of your Citizenship. Take original citizenship card with you as well.

Original copy of Bachelors degree certificate and the copy of attested documents. Take original certificate and transcript with you. You have the attested as well right? Take them with you too.

University’s Acceptance/Offer Letter. Now, the government staffs will give you a real headache on this. They don’t listen to you even if you are right and they think they are right and you’re wrong. In my case, they refused to provide me NOC just because there was a signature missing from the respective university officials. You cannot convince them.
Later I went again with my updated offer letter, they tried to reject me seeing my degree course. They told me the course ( Universal Design of ICT doesn’t exist) :D. Surprisingly, I convinced them on this but they again wanted to see my course fee. SAD. Later, I printed all the documents and submitted them. Regardless of that, they were not convinced, but they had to make No Objection Letter for me. It was like I had won the WWIII .. 😛
The point is take everything with you. Original certificates, photocopies of them, Passport, Citizenship, everything you have with you.

After preparing No Objection Letter, you must document your financial situation when applying; to verify that you have the financial resources to live in Norway during the study period. In my case, I had to deposit NOK 103,950 in a specified Norwegian bank account. The deposit amount changes every year. This will be required for a residence permit and visa. Don’t worry, the money will be returned when your Norwegian ID-number is registered.

Step 5: Apply for Accommodation.

You gotta live somewhere? After you get an offer letter and you accept it, The University will probably send you a link via your email regarding accommodation application. Ask your University humbly for accommodation link if you haven’t gotten one. Once you apply for the accommodation, you wait and begin the visa process.

Step 6: Where and How To Apply for VISA?

Now, you are finally ready to apply for the VISA. You need to visit VFS Global to apply for visa. As I am writing this, it is currently located in Mahalaxmisthan Road, just 2 minutes walk from Patan Hospital. Previously, it was situated in Naxal, Kathmandu.

Before applying, it is necessary to Schedule an Appointment. Click hereto book an online appointment. You need to register before making an appointment date. If you are in a group, you can make a bulk appointment as well. Do what ease you.

Make sure you bring the following documents with you to the VFS office when applying for VISA:

All the attested academic documents issued by the particular institution, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (SLC, +2, Bachelors degree)

A copy of all Passport used/unused pages from page 1 to last. Make it a clear copy.

Two original passport-size photographs with white background. not the PP sized photo but the MRP one.

Signed Cover Letter from the application portal. Click here to download the form.

Offer/Acceptance letter from the particular University.

UDI accommodation guarantee letter. If you haven’t gotten one, don’t worry. You can print the confirmation email you received while applying for the accommodation. Just print the email and enclose it with your VISA.

UDI Checklist filled out and signed. Click here to download the Checklist.

Funding receipt. (The receipt bank will provide you when you submit your fund from local bank to the bank in Norway).

The sooner you apply for VISA, sooner you’ll get the interview appointment date. In my case, they scheduled my interview date on September 6 while my class commencement date was on August 14. Later, they preponed my interview date on July 6. I submitted my VISA application on March 29. You do the math. 🙂

For an interview, you need to go to Denmark Embassy on respective appointment time. Please bring all the original certificates along with VISA receipt with you because sometimesb they might ask you for the documents. After an interview (2-3 days), you will get an email from UDI saying, your resident permit has been received by the UDI office. Wait for another week, you’ll receive another email from UDI regarding the approval of your resident permit. Then VFS will call you again to bring your Passport, Plane ticket, and VISA receipt.

Wait for another week to collect your Passport after you receive a call from VFS. In the meantime, you begin your shopping.

And welcome to Norway !! 😀 If you have any question regarding VISA or documentation process, do not hesitate to comment in the form below. I will be more than happy to assist you.

If by any chance, you happen to meet me in Norway, I expect a PIZZA from you. 😛